Günter Rexrodt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Rexrodt in 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister for Economic Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 21 January 1993 – 26 October 1998 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chancellor | Helmut Kohl | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jürgen Möllemann | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Werner Müller(Economics and Technology) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theTreuhandanstalt Board of Directors for agriculture, construction industry and GDR foreign trade companies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1 September 1991 – 20 January 1993 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Birgit Breuel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Position established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Position abolished | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senator of Finance of Berlin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 18 April 1985 – 16 March 1989 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Governing Mayor | Eberhard Diepgen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Gerhard Kunz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Norbert Meisner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1941-09-12)September 12, 1941 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | August 19, 2004(2004-08-19) (aged 62) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Free University Berlin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Günter Rexrodt (German pronunciation:[ˈɡʏntɐˈʁɛksʁoːt]; 12 September 1941 – 19 August 2004) was a German politician of theFree Democratic Party (FDP) who served asFederal Minister for Economic Affairs in thefourth andfifth governments ofChancellorHelmut Kohl from 1993 to 1998.[1] He lived inBerlin.
After theAbitur in 1960 inArnstadt,Thuringia and an extra year inWest Berlin,[2] Rexrodt graduated with aDiplom inbusiness studies from theFree University Berlin where he also received his doctorate ("Dr. rer. pol") in 1971.
From 1968 to 1979 Rexroth worked for thechamber of commerce in Berlin. From 1979 to 1982 he worked as a ressort manager at "Office for Economy of the Federal State of Berlin".
In 1980, Rexrodt became a member of the FDP. From 1983 to 1987 – under the leadership of Walter Rasch – as well as from 1989 to 1994 – under Carola von Braun – he served as the alternate chair of the party in Berlin.
From 1982 to 1985 Rexrodt served as the State Secretary in the State Administration for Economic Affairs underElmar Pieroth. From1985 to1989 he was the State Minister (Senator) for Economic Affairs of the federal state of Berlin, which was led byGoverning MayorEberhard Diepgen.
From April 1989 Rexrodt worked forCitibank inNew York City and from January 1990 to August 1991 he was a member of the board of directors at Citibank's Germany business, based in Frankfurt.
Already in September 1991, Rexrodt moved to theTreuhand in Germany, where he was a member of the board of directors until January 1993. Reportedly, Chancellor Kohl personally phonedJohn S. Reed, chairman of Citibank in New York, to ask that Rexrodt be let out of his contract to assume a seat on the board of the Treuhandanstalt.[3] During his time at the Treuhandanstalt, he was in charge of privatizing Eastern Germany's textiles and agricultural sectors.[4] He also disposed of the property of the formerSocialist Unity Party of Germany, including publishers and real estate interests.[5]
From 1991 Rexrodt was a member of the FDP national leadership under the party's chairOtto Graf Lambsdorff. That same year, he was Lambsdorff's nominee to succeedHelmut Haussmann asFederal Minister for Economic Affairs; however, he eventually lost an internal vote againstJürgen Möllemann.[6][7]
From the1994 elections, Rexrodt was a member of the German Bundestag. He was returned to the Bundestag from the Berlin list.
On January 21, 1993, Rexrodt was appointed asFederal Minister for Economic Affairs by ChancellorHelmut Kohl, after the resignation of his predecessor Jürgen Möllemann.[8][9] The appointment was made following a nomination submitted by the FDP; the Free Democratic members of Parliament and the entire national leadership picked him by secret ballot, with 57 out of 97 votes cast.[10]
During his time in office, Rexrodt was considered far less influential in formulating economic policy thanMinister of FinanceTheo Waigel.[11] In 1995, he was rumoured to be replaced amid acabinet reshuffle but ended up keeping his position due to internal infighting within the FDP.[12][13]
Under Rexrodt's leadership, the government liberalized Germany's highly regulated shop hours in 1996, permitting stores to remain open later, until 8 P.M. on weekdays and part of Saturday afternoons.[14][15]
Also in 1996, Rexrodt resisted U.S. diplomatic efforts to enlist Germany's help in pursuing democratic reform in Cuba, arguing that theHelms–Burton Act's threat of extraterritorial sanctions against non-U.S. firms were the wrong way to promote democratization.[16]
In 1997, Rexrodt – jointly with theEuropean Commission – convened government ministers from about 30 European nations and business leaders for the Bonn Conference on Global Information Networks to define a common strategy for fosteringelectronic commerce in Europe.[17]
After the1998 national elections, Rexrodt joined the Budget Committee and became his parliamentary group's spokesperson on theannual budget.
From 2000 to 2004, Rexrodt served as chairman of the FDP in Berlin. In Berlin's2001 state elections, he was the lead candidate of the FDP. Under his leadership, the FDP returned to theState Parliament with a final voting result of 9.9%. When negotiations over a coalition government with theSocial Democrats andAlliance 90/The Greens failed,[18] he resigned his seat in the State Parliament after only two months in early 2002.[19]
From 2001, Rexrodt served as the federal treasurer of the FDP under the leadership of chairmanGuido Westerwelle.[20] In this capacity, he was later involved in the investigation of the "flyer affair" surrounding Möllemann.[21]
In 2003, Rexrodt announced his intention to resign as chair of the FDP in Berlin the following year.[22] In 2004, he failed to win sufficient support for his plan to lead his party's Berlin campaign for thenational elections again.[23]
Rexrodt's fatherWilhelm was managing director of theGerman Democratic Party until 1933. Wilhelm was after 1945 the co-founder of theLiberal Democratic Party of Germany.
Rexrodt was married to Ingrid Hoyermann and had a son from that marriage.
During an official trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe in 1996, Rexrodt was infected withmalaria[28] and spent three weeks in acoma.[29] In May 2004 he had to undergo a complicated surgery forcancer on the neck and died shortly after fromcardiac arrest.
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